


then there's you

by ThisJoyAndI



Category: The White Queen (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-23
Updated: 2013-09-23
Packaged: 2017-12-27 10:41:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/977804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThisJoyAndI/pseuds/ThisJoyAndI
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(how my love it spins me round)<br/>Elizabeth attempts to gain Henry's affection and secure her place at court, whilst pondering what could have been. 'If Henry does not marry her and thus solidify his claim to the throne and usher in a new Tudor dynasty, then another man will and she will produce for him children who can claim the throne as their birthright.'</p>
            </blockquote>





	then there's you

She could have known a Henri, could have birthed a Henri.

If her father’s plans had gone successfully and she had been married to the French dauphin, she could have been surrounded by French Henri’s who honoured her as their queen and spoke to her in their lilting voices, charmed her with their French ways.

But the only Henry’s she knows are English, part of the Lancastrian royal family, one deceased and the other recently crowned king, a stolen crown on his head that had once graced her father’s golden waves.

She is not the French queen, she is nothing in this new English court. She is not honoured as a queen or as the betrothed of the new king, but rather kept in limbo remaining at court with Cissy only because her betrothed has ordered as such. It pains her to be referred to as Lady Elizabeth, (or as Princess Elizabeth as her betrothed revokes her uncle’s _Titulus Regius_ to legitimise his own rule, but the nobles refer to her as a princess mockingly, aware she has no real power) more than she would ever care to admit, and she longs for the day that Henry finally decides to marry her if only to obtain another title that does not cause such pain or evoke so much grief and nostalgia for a past she cannot retake.

She should feel no animosity towards this new king, a man she has been betrothed to for the majority of her maturity, should know that death is a part of war and Henry is not to be blamed for the end of the York line but...She thinks of the poor princes in the tower, forces herself to think of them both as her true brothers for fear of what the truth could cause, and wonders if Henry ordered their deaths, so he could be the only heir capable of claiming the throne after her deceased uncle.

She wonders when her betrothed shall marry her, wonders when her life can begin anew and she can forget the tragedy of the last few years. Nothing happens, nothing ever happens, as the King’s Mother guards her son, attempting desperately to wield a maternal influence over the son who has grown into a man without her presence. She hears gossip of the king seeking a foreign alliance, and has to swallow a scoff at the thought. She is the prominent heir to the York claim, an attractive woman of marriageable age with a family history of proven fertility...if Henry does not marry her and thus solidify his claim to the throne and usher in a new Tudor dynasty, then another man will and she will produce for him children who can claim the throne as their birthright, beginning the conflict anew. What will a foreign alliance bring him in a divided country that can only be reconciled upon their marriage? If their betrothal is not honoured, the people shall revolt against their new king and crown one of her cousins (or perhaps even her, what a thrilling thought) in his place.

And Henry is not a foolish man. He pores continuously over his leather-bound texts, and she once peeked behind their covers to see pages and pages of his tidy scrawl, recounting the events of the past days, the loyalties of the nobles, the fiscal, civil, judicial, social state of the country – all are testaments to his intelligence. He will not set her aside so easily, not without proper consideration. Not even his mother, the woman who birthed him and did everything in her power to ensure him a place on the throne, will be able to persuade him once he has given their betrothal (and her, she supposes) the consideration it deserves.

All she has to do is intrigue him, win his affections, and she will be married quicker than the seamstresses can make her gown.

It is difficult to encounter him alone though, for his lady mother is almost a constant presence at his side, her determination to make up the absence of her presence throughout his life more evident than ever.

But she succeeds. With meetings in Henry’s rooms that her mother would deem scandalous if she did not urge her daughter on, with soft questions to the king about her new gowns, with quiet murmurs and intriguing looks, she succeeds. Henry decides to honour their betrothal and she makes plans for their wedding, seamstresses measuring her waist for her decadent wedding gown. She does not prod for her coronation, knows it will come in time, knows it will occur when she has learnt the beguiling ways of her soon-to-be husband as well as she knows her own reflection.

Perhaps she will still birth a Henry, an English prince to rule after his father.

Henry Tudor proves to be a true and worthy husband, the angular planes of his face softening under her touch and his eyes gazing at her with adoration.

**Author's Note:**

> I actually do love Lizzie of York, especially as she is the matriarch of the Tudor Dynasty and I wish someone would make a series about her and Henry VII so desperately! Whilst I have some issues with her portrayal in TWQ, I love her and I love Lizzie x Henry together so...c'est la vie!


End file.
